Hack Black Rose Returns
by Frontline
Summary: Two months after the events of .Hack, Black Rose returns to The World with Kazu. However, the ghosts of the past are hard to leave behind.


**Mac Anu**

Black Rose stood by the Chaos Gate, lost in thought. It had been two months since she had logged in to the World, since Kazu had awoken from his coma. With so much that had been happening at the time, she'd been too busy visiting him at the hospital to play games. And when he finally came home, she had been scared of reminding him of what happened. But, she had found herself thinking about it as the days passed. When she been fighting alongside Kite against the Eight Phases, it hadn't been a game for her, for any of them. Now, she had a chance to enjoy it...

'Akira?'

She turned to see Kazu standing next to her and put her hands on her hips.

'Don't call me 'Akira', Kazu.' She said. 'I'm Black Rose, remember?'

'Sorry, Sis.' Kazu said, scratching his head sheepishly. 'I mean, Black Rose.'

'That's better. Are you ready?'

'Uh-huh. I've stocked up on Recovery Drinks and Artisan's Soul, so we should be good to go.'

'Come on. It's an easy dungeon, Kazu. What've we got to worry about?'

'We need to be prepared, that's all.' Kazu said, looking down at his feet.

'Yeah, whatever. Come on, let's get going.

**Delta Cursed Confused Spiral**

Black Rose's footsteps echoed off the stone walls as she descended the stairs to the first floor of the Dungeon, looking around warily, mentally chiding herself.

_Come on, Black Rose. It's only a game, now. Get a grip. _

Even though she knew what she said was true, she kept imagining that they would run into another DataBug. Without Kite here, there was nothing...

_Stop it! It's over now, and you can relax. _

Even so, her worries wouldn't go away, especially when she glanced at Kazu. She'd nearly lost him once. She couldn't go through that again. Hefting her sword, she gripped the handle tightly with both hands and stepped through the doorway into the next room, stopping when she saw the portal.

'Well, here we go.' Kazu said, moving to stand next to her.

'How do you want to...Hey!'

He protested, as Black Rose stepped forward, the portal swirling and fading, leaving the monster standing in it's place. It's main body was vaguely humanoid, with a large drill cone where it's legs should have been, with two more drills hovering next to it like arms. The silence of the dungeon was broken by a harsh whine as the drills started up and the monster advanced towards them.

'Comad Goo!' Kazu said. 'It's physical tolerant. If we...wait!'

Black Rose raised her sword and charged, ignoring Kazu's shout, swinging the blade down in a strike towards it's body. Faster than she could follow, the Comad Goo swung it's arm up and caught her blade, flinging her aside. She recovered, her eyes widening as she saw it bearing down towards Kazu and she sprang back to her feet, charging towards it. Kazu raised his staff and she saw an aura of power springing up around him as he channeled his waves.

'Gi Rai Don!' He yelled, a bolt of lighting striking the Comad Goo and driving it backwards for a second before it recovered and it swept it's drill arm towards him.

'No!' Black Rose yelled, shouldering him out of the way, the blow slamming into the ground where he had been. She wasn't going to let anything happen to her Brother. She stepped in close and swung her sword in a powerful overhand strike, ducking as it's arm swept over her head and drove her sword through it's body. The Comad Goo shuddered for a moment and then fell apart, it's drill arms dropping to the floor and it faded. Black Rose breathed a sigh of relief and then turned to Kazu, who was picking himself up from the floor, his expression angry.

'What did you do that for?' He demanded and Black Rose took a step back.

'Hey! I just saved your life.'

'It's just a game, Black Rose.' He said, folding his arms across his chest. And I can take care of myself.'

'Kazu...' Black Rose started to say, but Kazu cut her off.

'I'm done for the day.' He said, turning away and pulling out a Sprite Ocarina.

'Kazu, wait...' Black Rose began, but Kazu activated the Ocarina and exited the dungeon, leaving Black Rose standing there with her hand outstretched.

_Dammit_...

**Mac Anu**

Black Rose left the dungeon and returned to Mac Anu; even though she could have cleared it by herself, she wasn't in the mood anymore.

_What was Kazu's problem, anyway? _

'Heeeyyyyy! Black Rose!' Black Rose turned to see a Wavemaster in a white robe jogging towards her and a smile crossed her face at seeing her friend, despite who she was feeling.

'Hi, Mistral.' She said, as Mistral stumbled to a halt in front of her.

'Hey. It's been a long time. How are you? When did you log back in? We haven't seen you in ages.'

'Yeah, it's been a while. I just came back today. Kazu and I were...' She stopped, shaking her head. 'Forget it.'

Mistral frowned, leaning closer to her.

'Did you guys have a fight?'

'I don't want to talk about it.' Black Rose said, looking away.

'Okay.' Mistral said. 'Do you still feel like playing? There's a great dungeon you should try. I'll give you the address.'

'Mistral...' She began, as the address popped up in front of her;

_Haunted Saddened Wasteland. _

'Have you already been?' She asked and Mistral nodded. 'Uh-huh. That's where I got this.' She said, brandishing her staff.

'My new Solaris Wand.' She grinned and wrapped her arm around Black Rose's shoulders, who shook her head.

'No. If you've already gone, then we should go to another dungeon together. Is Kite online today? It'd be just like old times.'

'I dunno. Anyway, I've gotta run an errand. Sorry. But, you should go. Take your mind off things. I'll catch you later.'

Before she could stop her, Mistral turned and dashed off, leaving Black Rose standing there with her mouth open. She hasn't changed.

**Haunted Saddened Wasteland**

Black Rose dispatched the last Goblin with a sweep of her sword and looked around. So far, so good. She'd managed to reach the second floor of the dungeon without any great difficulty and, as much as she hated to admit it, she was happy to have something else to think about for the moment. Her anger over Kazu was fading into the background.

_I guess Mistral knew what she was doing after all. _

She was about to continue when a figure entered the room, stopping when he saw her.

'Kazu?'

'...Black Rose?'

'What are you doing here?' She asked and Kazu's eyes narrowed.

'That's my business, Black Rose.' He said, turning and walking towards the other doorway without another word.

'Hey! Kazu...' She called after him, but he ignored her, disappearing through the next door and her hand tightened involuntarily on the hilt of her sword. She hadn't missed the inflection that he'd used, deliberately calling her by her World name as a way of putting distance between them. Even though she was angry, she wasn't going to let him go down there alone. She raced across the room and headed through the doorway, finding the stairs that led down to the next floor of the dungeon and pounded down them, emerging onto the third floor.

_Great_...

She'd lost sight of him. Was he trying to avoid her? Ahead of her were three doorways leading off from the cavern, with no indication which way Kazu had gone. Well, she had no choice but to pick one. Hopefully, she could find him before he got into any trouble. If he got hurt because of their fight, then it would be her fault. Picking the door to the left, she stepped through, finding a Portal in the centre of the room.

_Dammit_.

She'd been hoping to avoid any fights, but there was no way through without triggering the portal. Hefting her sword, she charged forward as the portal opened, revealing five Valkyries, their spears already pointing at her. She dodged the first spear easily, her wide swing taking out two of the Valkyries and she vaulted over the head of the next one, dropping down to finish it off with an overhand strike. The remaining two moved to surround her, spears ready to strike should she move towards either of them. She had a few potions left to heal herself, but the longer she waited, the further ahead Kazu was getting. She would have to finish this quickly, so she feinted towards the left Valkyrie and then dodged right, catching them out of position and her blade struck, felling them both with a single strike. Quickly, she raced towards the exit door and barrelled into the next room, stopping suddenly. Ahead of her, she saw Kazu striding towards the portal, which opened as he approached, releasing a Cerberus. The three-headed dog growled as it eyes focused on him, jaws snapping angrily and it charged towards him. Kazu stood his ground and raised his staff, dropping a bolt of lightning on the beast, which roared in pain. It swiped a paw at him and Kazu ducked, raising his staff again, but he wasn't fast enough as it launched a fireball towards him which blasted him backwards off his feet. Before he could recover, the beast sprang towards him, it's jaws open for the kill. Desperately, Kazu shoved his staff between it's jaws, teeth scraping on the metal as he tried to hold the beast back.

'Kazu!' BlackRose yelled, charging forwards and burying her sword into the beast's flank, making it roar in pain.

_Dammit, she wasn't going to lose him again. _

The Cerberus swung round towards her and Black Rose held her ground, dodging the swipe of it's paw as Kazu got back to his feet, unleashing another bolt of lightning that drove it back.

'I've got this, Kazu!' Black Rose yelled, raising her sword again and charging, only to be knocked sideways by a vicious claw swipe that caught her off guard and the Cerberus leapt towards her, claws extended and Kazu stepped into it's path, his staff raised.

'Kazu, no!' Her blood turned to ice as she saw the monster bearing down on her brother and she struggled to get to her feet, knowing that she wouldn't make it in time.

'Gi Rai Don!' Kazu yelled, his lightning bolt striking the Cerberus, making it roar in pain and he dodged aside, the beast landing in a heap.

'Black Rose, now!' He shouted and Black Rose came up in a roll, sweeping her sword upwards in a powerful strike, throwing the Cerberus backwards where it hit the ground and faded. Black Rose lowered her sword and turned to Kazu, unable to meet his gaze.

'...thank you.' She said, looking down at her boots.

'What were you trying to do?' Kazu snapped. 'You spend all that time trying to get down here and you were just going to throw it away? We weren't in a Party together. If you'd been KO'd, then you'd have lost everything you'd achieved. Why did you...'

'I'm your Big Sister, okay? I'm supposed to be the strong one. I'm supposed to look out for you. It's my fault that you...'

'Don't go there, Akira.' He said. 'There wasn't anything you could have done. And, without you, I'd still be in that coma.'

'I know, but...'

'But nothing, sis. It's over, now.'

'You don't know that, Kazu! What if something else happens and you get hurt again?

' 'What about you? What if something happens to you? Are you going to stop playing The World.' The question made her take a step backwards, but she knew the answer.

'...No.'

'No. Well, neither am I. The World isn't just a game, but the real world isn't totally safe, either. I could get hit by a car, or fall of my bike, or get sick or anything. I'm not going to give up what I enjoy because of that. Besides, if anything else weird does happen, then I reckon we can handle it. We make a pretty good team.'

'Yeah. I guess we do.' She said, with a smile. 'Come on, let's finish this.'

Together, they crossed the room, heading towards the last doorway. 'Hey, how come you wound up here as well?'

'Oh, yeah. I bumped into this really...perky Wavemaster who told me a great address to get a new staff, so I thought I'd check it out. Wish I'd got her member address, though. I wonder who she was?'

Black Rose turned away to hide her smile as she realised who the Wavemaster had been. _Thanks, Mistral_. She thought, as they crossed through the doorway into the room with the Gott Statue. Black Rose turned to Kazu, who walked towards the chest and pulled out the staff, turning it over in his hands. 'Cool. A Moonlit Rod! I guess that Wavemaster knew what she was doing.'

'Yeah. Yeah, I guess she did. C'mon, let's get back and see what we can sell it for.'

'Just kidding, just kidding!' She added, seeing the expression on his face.


End file.
